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Benefits

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Business reports are now fired out to managers in minutes rather than days. By combining leading-edge parallel data warehousing capability with a complete refresh of the company’s business reporting and Business Intelligence (BI) resources.

SQL Server Blog

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<title>In-database Machine Learning in SQL Server 2017</title>
<link>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/26/in-database-machine-learning-in-sql-server-2017/</link>
<comments>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/26/in-database-machine-learning-in-sql-server-2017/#respond</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 26 Sep 2017 16:30:51 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[SQL Server Team]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/?p=20797</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This post is authored by Sumit Kumar, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft and Nellie Gustafsson, Program Manager, Microsoft We are excited to announce the general availability of SQL Server 2017 and Machine Learning Services. You can start using Python-based in-database Machine Learning Services for production usage now. With support for both R and Python, we have... <a aria-label="read more about In-database Machine Learning in SQL Server 2017" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/26/in-database-machine-learning-in-sql-server-2017/" class="read-more">Read more</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This post is authored by Sumit Kumar, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft and Nellie Gustafsson, Program Manager, Microsoft</em></p>
<p>We are excited to announce the general availability of SQL Server 2017 and Machine Learning Services. You can start using Python-based in-database Machine Learning Services for production usage now. With support for both R and Python, we have rebranded ‘R Services’ to ‘Machine Learning Services’. SQL Server now supports the three most <a target="_blank" href="http://www.kdnuggets.com/2017/05/poll-analytics-data-science-machine-learning-software-leaders.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">popular</a> data science languages and enables you to use the latest AI and ML packages from the open source world in-database, across ALL editions on Windows – making SQL Server 2017 the commercial database with built-in AI.</p>
<p>As we have covered in previous <a target="_blank" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/04/19/python-in-sql-server-2017-enhanced-in-database-machine-learning/" rel="noopener noreferrer">posts</a>, there are many advantages of using this technology, such as the elimination of data movement, ease of deployment, improved security and better scale and performance. These abilities make SQL Server a powerful enterprise platform for machine learning. Examples of what some customers have built using Machine Learning Services:</p>
<ul>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://customers.microsoft.com/en-US/story/pros" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pricing optimization</a> models</li>
<li>Predictive analytics solutions to gain <a target="_blank" href="https://customers.microsoft.com/en-us/story/transforming-real-estate-data-services-with-hybrid-cloud-technologies" rel="noopener noreferrer">real-estate property insights</a></li>
<li>Better and more accurate models for <a target="_blank" href="https://customers.microsoft.com/en-us/story/acxiom-corporation" rel="noopener noreferrer">more precisely targeted marketing</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://customers.microsoft.com/en-US/story/heartlandbank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Financial models</a> for banking</li>
</ul>
<h2>In-database Python integration</h2>
<p>With the full support of in-database Python in SQL Server <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/advanced-analytics/what-s-new-in-sql-server-machine-learning-services" rel="noopener noreferrer">Machine Learning Services</a> in SQL Server 2017, the vast population of Python developers and ML practitioners can now leverage the power of SQL Server alongside their Python code. And the SQL Server developers now have access to the extensive Python ML and AI libraries from the open source ecosystem along with the latest innovations from Microsoft (<em>revoscalepy</em> and <em>microsoftml</em> libraries) for developing intelligent applications with in-database analytics.</p>
<h3><em>Python operationalization with T-SQL</em></h3>
<p>Full Python integration with the sp_execute_external_script <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/system-stored-procedures/sp-execute-external-script-transact-sql" rel="noopener noreferrer">infrastructure</a> in SQL Server enables the enterprise-grade operationalization of Python models and scripts as simple stored procedures.</p>
<p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/09/application-developer.png"><img src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/09/application-developer-1024x535.png" alt="" width="879" height="459" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-20785" /></a></p>
<p>Streaming data from SQL to Python processes and MPI ring parallelization support provides much-improved performance to the Python scripts.</p>
<h3><em>Python remote </em>compute<em> in SQL Server</em></h3>
<p>With the SQL Server remote compute context, data scientists and developers can push the compute of Python code to the server from their development environments, to explore data and develop models without the need to move data.</p>
<p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/09/data-scientists.png"><img src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/09/data-scientists-1024x531.png" alt="" width="879" height="456" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-20786" /></a></p>
<p>In-database Python integration is not limited to just machine learning and AI solutions &#8211; it is equally useful for general purpose data analysis work by combining Python and SQL in powerful ways; leveraging strengths of respective languages.</p>
<h2>Orders of magnitude faster scoring</h2>
<p>After <a target="_blank" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2016/10/11/1000000-predictions-per-second/" rel="noopener noreferrer">demonstrating</a> industry leading 1 million+ rows/sec batch scoring performance, we are now introducing <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/advanced-analytics/sql-native-scoring" rel="noopener noreferrer">Native Scoring</a> for even faster prediction! Some concurrent prediction scenarios require close to real-time response times. Models trained using the RevoScaleR and revoscalepy packages are supported by this new PREDICT verb (a system table value function) which makes it easy to embed this performant scoring functionality in regular T-SQL SELECT statements without invoking the R or Python runtime. Native scoring is also available on SQL Server on Linux.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/advanced-analytics/real-time-scoring" rel="noopener noreferrer">Real-time scoring</a> is also available to SQL Server 2016 customers on upgrading in-database R to the latest release of Microsoft Machine Learning Server.</p>
<h2>Improving R package management in SQL Server</h2>
<p>One of the key values of R is its vibrant community with thousands of open source packages. We have further improved the <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/advanced-analytics/r/r-package-management-for-sql-server-r-services">R package management</a> in SQL Server. We have a rich set of R functions to do package management in SQL Server that gives users the ability to install, uninstall and manage packages in various roles and scopes. In addition, it is now possible to install R packages on SQL Server using TSQL commands (CREATE EXTERNAL LIBRARY). This approach ensures availability of the previously installed packages when a server fails over.</p>
<h2>Machine Learning Server</h2>
<p>Along with the general availability of SQL Server 2017, we have also <a target="_blank" href="https://aka.ms/mlserver92" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced the general availability</a> of the new Microsoft Machine Learning Server! This is the underlying software that is integrated into SQL Server as Machine Learning Services. Machine Learning Server is the transformation of <a target="_blank" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/04/19/introducing-microsoft-r-server-9-1-release/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Microsoft R Server</a> into an even more flexible platform that offers a choice of R and Python languages and brings the best of algorithmic innovations from the open source world and Microsoft. Its multi-platform support enables customers to build portable models wherever their data is and operationalize the models on platforms like SQL Server, making the intelligence easily consumable by business applications.</p>
<p>Key new algorithmic innovations of Machine Learning Server benefitting the SQL Server scenarios are:</p>
<h3><em>Revoscalepy</em></h3>
<p>This <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/r-server/python-reference/revoscalepy/revoscalepy-package">package</a> has the Pythonic version of Microsoft’s proprietary <em>Parallel External Memory Algorithms</em> (APIs for linear and logistic regressions, decision tree, boosted tree and random forest) and a rich set of APIs for <em>ETL</em>, remote <em>compute contexts</em> and <em>data sources</em>. These are the same scalable and parallelized algorithms (with ‘rx’ prefix) that have been the differentiating value proposition of Microsoft R Server and allow scaling analytics to arbitrarily large datasets, way beyond the available memory.</p>
<h3><em>microsoftml</em></h3>
<p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/r-server/python-reference/microsoftml/microsoftml-package" rel="noopener noreferrer">package</a> is a set of state of the art, battle-tested ML algorithms and transforms with Python bindings including deep neural net, one class SVM, fast tree, forest, linear and logistic regressions etc. In addition, this package contains pre-trained models for extracting features from images using ResNet models, and doing sentiment analysis from English language text, which dramatically simplifies the creation and deployment of complex AI scenarios on image and text data.</p>
<p>We have also simplified the pricing model to make it easier to acquire and use Machine learning Server on Hadoop. Each SQL Server EE core under Software Assurance gives you rights to use Machine Learning Server on 5 nodes of Hadoop.</p>
<h2>Call to action</h2>
<p>SQL Server Machine Learning Services is available in all editions of SQL Server 2017 on Windows and we encourage you to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2017" rel="noopener noreferrer">download</a> and explore the above-mentioned enhancements in the free express or developer editions. Our R and Python <a href="http://aka.ms\mlsqldev">getting started tutorials</a> will walk you through building your first machine learning solutions with SQL Server. You can find additional <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/advanced-analytics/tutorials/machine-learning-services-tutorials" rel="noopener noreferrer">tutorials</a> on Microsoft docs.</p>
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<title>New managed SQL server Integration Service hosting capability in Data Factory</title>
<link>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/25/new-managed-sql-server-integration-service-hosting-capability-in-data-factory/</link>
<comments>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/25/new-managed-sql-server-integration-service-hosting-capability-in-data-factory/#respond</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Sep 2017 14:00:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[SQL Server Team]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/?p=20645</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This week at Ignite, we announced new capabilities in Azure Data Factory (ADF) service available in public preview for customers. Azure user preview terms of use can be found here. SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) customers can easily lift their SSIS packages into the cloud using new managed SSIS hosting capabilities in Data Factory. This... <a aria-label="read more about New managed SQL server Integration Service hosting capability in Data Factory" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/25/new-managed-sql-server-integration-service-hosting-capability-in-data-factory/" class="read-more">Read more</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This week at Ignite, we announced new capabilities in Azure Data Factory (ADF) service available in public preview for customers. <a href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/legal/preview-supplemental-terms/">Azure user preview terms of use can be found here</a>. SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) customers can easily lift their SSIS packages into the cloud using new managed SSIS hosting capabilities in Data Factory. This can be achieved by utilizing a new feature called “Integration Runtimes” (IR). By spinning-up an SSIS IR in Azure Data Factory, you will have the ability to execute, manage, monitor and deploy SSIS packages in the cloud. Get started now by visiting <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-factory/tutorial-deploy-ssis-packages-azure">this step-by-step instructional tutorial</a> on how to leverage Azure Data Factory to provision an SSIS service where you can deploy, manage and monitor your SSIS packages in the cloud.</p>
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<title>SQL Server 2017 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux offer</title>
<link>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/25/sql-server-2017-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux-offer/</link>
<comments>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/25/sql-server-2017-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux-offer/#respond</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Sep 2017 13:00:50 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[SQL Server Team]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/?p=20655</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This post was authored by John ‘JG’ Chirapurath, General Manager, Data Platform Marketing. Microsoft has heard from you, our customers, that your data estate gets bigger, more complicated, and more diverse every year. You need solutions that work across platforms, whether on-premises or in the cloud, and that meet your data workloads where they are. Embracing... <a aria-label="read more about SQL Server 2017 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux offer" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/25/sql-server-2017-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux-offer/" class="read-more">Read more</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This post was authored by John ‘JG’ Chirapurath, General Manager, Data Platform Marketing.</em></p>
<p>Microsoft has heard from you, our customers, that your data estate gets bigger, more complicated, and more diverse every year. You need solutions that work across platforms, whether on-premises or in the cloud, and that meet your data workloads where they are. Embracing this choice, earlier today we announced the <strong>general availability of SQL Server 2017 on Linux, Windows, and Docker on October 2, 2017</strong>.</p>
<p>Today, Microsoft and Red Hat are delivering on choice by announcing the availability of Microsoft SQL Server 2017 on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/linux-platforms/enterprise-linux" rel="noopener noreferrer">Red Hat Enterprise Linux</a>, the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform. As Microsoft’s reference Linux platform for SQL Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux extends the enterprise database and analytics capabilities of SQL Server by delivering it on the industry-leading platform for performance, security features, stability, reliability, and manageability.</p>
<p>Customers will be able to bring the performance and security features of SQL Server to Linux workloads. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2017" rel="noopener noreferrer">SQL Server 2017</a> on Red Hat Enterprise Linux delivers mission-critical OLTP database capabilities and enterprise <a target="_blank" href="http://h20195.www2.hpe.com/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=a00007695enw" rel="noopener noreferrer">data warehousing</a> with in-memory technology across workloads. SQL Server 2017 embraces developers by delivering choice in language and platform, with container support that seamlessly facilitates DevOps scenarios. The new release of SQL Server delivers all of this, built-in. And, it runs wherever you want, whether in your datacenter, in Azure virtual machines, or in <a target="_blank" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fredhat.com%2Fen%2Fblog%2Fmicrosoft-sql-server-2017-red-hat-enterprise-linux-data-peas-and-linux-carrots&amp;data=02%7C01%7CAnshul.Rampal%40microsoft.com%7C33b0209700fb4c3247b908d501e3c99b%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C636417000226874752&amp;sdata=tSPEvd6ZeHZGNDKgFme67gsToIdtsEO0Zx%2FnstUy%2FpU%3D&amp;reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer">containers running on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform</a>!</p>
<p>Also starting October 2nd until June 30th, 2018, we are launching a <strong>SQL Server on Red Hat Enterprise Linux</strong> <strong>offer</strong> to help with upgrades and migrations. This offer provides up to 30% off SQL Server 2017 through an annual subscription. When customers purchase a new Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription to support their SQL Server, they will be eligible for another 30% off their Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription price.</p>
<p>In addition to discounts on SQL Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, all of this is backed by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.redhat.com/en/about/press-releases/microsoft-and-red-hat-deliver-new-standard-enterprise-cloud-experiences" rel="noopener noreferrer">integrated support from Microsoft and Red Hat</a>. Learn more about this offer, plus how SQL Server and Red Hat work together for performance and reliability at low TCO by talking to your local Red Hat or Microsoft seller today!</p>
<p>For more information on Microsoft SQL Server 2017 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, stop by the Red Hat booth #527 at Microsoft Ignite.</p>
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<title>Microsoft for the Modern Data Estate</title>
<link>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/25/microsoft-for-the-modern-data-estate/</link>
<comments>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/25/microsoft-for-the-modern-data-estate/#respond</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Sep 2017 13:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[SQL Server Team]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/?p=20695</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This post was authored by Rohan Kumar, General Manager, Data Systems Group. Welcome to Microsoft Ignite 2017! I hope you are able to join us in person, or virtually through the Ignite Live Stream, to hear our exciting product announcements for your Data Estate. As Scott Guthrie wrote, today we announced general availability of SQL... <a aria-label="read more about Microsoft for the Modern Data Estate" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/25/microsoft-for-the-modern-data-estate/" class="read-more">Read more</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This post was authored by Rohan Kumar, General Manager, Data Systems Group.</em></p>
<p>Welcome to Microsoft Ignite 2017! I hope you are able to join us in person, or virtually through the Ignite <a target="_blank" href="https://ignite.microsoft.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Live Stream</a>, to hear our exciting product announcements for your Data Estate.</p>
<ul>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/new-azure-advancements-remove-cloud-barriers-for-enterprises-at-ignite-2017/" rel="noopener noreferrer">As Scott Guthrie wrote</a>, today we announced general availability of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2017" rel="noopener noreferrer">SQL Server 2017</a>, coming October 2! This is an incredible milestone representing the first version of SQL Server to run on Windows Server, Linux and Docker—and it already has been pulled on Docker X 2 million times since November.</li>
<li>We also announced the upcoming public preview of <a target="_blank" href="https://sqldatabase-migrationpreview.azurewebsites.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer">SQL Database Managed Instance </a>and Azure Database Migration Service previews, along with the addition of SQL Server to Azure Hybrid Benefit. The new Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server enables customers to use on-premises SQL Server licenses for the easiest lift and shift of SQL Server workloads to fully-managed cloud.</li>
<li>For developers looking to drive highly customized experiences based on events in a serverless architecture, we also announced support for Azure Functions with<a target="_blank" href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cosmos-db/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Azure Cosmos DB</a>.</li>
<li>To simplify analytics in the cloud, we’re releasing a public preview of new hybrid data integration capabilities in <a target="_blank" href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/data-factory/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Azure Data Factory</a> including the ability to run SSIS packages within the service.</li>
<li>Finally, dramatic scale investments are coming to <a target="_blank" href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/sql-data-warehouse/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Azure SQL Data Warehouse</a> for double the performance and 5x the scale.</li>
</ul>
<p>This afternoon, I’ll be speaking in the Data General Session about the investments Microsoft has made across our Data and Analytics portfolio. From key announcements about the availability of SQL Server 2017 on Linux and Docker, to innovative programs that let you use on-premises SQL Server licenses to easily lift and shift to the cloud, to great price and performance for analytics workloads in Azure, we have lots of ways to help you unleash the power of your data, across the entire Data Estate. You’ll also get to hear from customers who have come with us on this journey, and whose investments in data and analytics have led to out-innovating and out-performing their competition.</p>
<p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/09/data-estate.png"><img src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/09/data-estate.png" alt="" width="697" height="524" class="aligncenter wp-image-20745 " /></a></p>
<p>Let’s take a look at some of the products and features you’ll hear more about.</p>
<h2>SQL Server 2017 on Linux and Docker</h2>
<p>With <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2017" rel="noopener noreferrer">SQL Server 2017</a>, we’ve made huge strides of choice for the data platform, and one of the heroes of our new choice paradigm is SQL Server 2017. <strong>Starting next Monday, October 2, customers will be able to bring the industry-leading performance and security of SQL Server to Linux and Docker Enterprise Edition containers for production workloads.</strong> SQL Server 2017 delivers a mission-critical database with everything built-in, on the platform of your choice. And, it can unlock seamless DevOps with Docker Enterprise Edition containers, bringing efficiency and simplicity to your innovation. As one customer reported:</p>
<p><strong>“The Linux switchover was very easy. We didn’t have to do anything custom for Azure. It was literally plug and play,”</strong> said Dean Chen, VP of Engineering for dv01.</p>
<p>Today we are also announcing a <a href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/25/sql-server-2017-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux-offer"><strong>SQL Server on Red Hat Enterprise Linux offer</strong></a> to help with upgrades and migrations. This offer provides up to 30% off SQL Server 2017 through an annual subscription. When customers purchase new Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to support their SQL Server, they will be eligible for another 30% off their operating system. In addition to discounts on SQL Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, all of this is backed by integrated support from Microsoft and Red Hat.</p>
<p>Upgrading now to SQL Server 2017 will get you access to these cool features:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>AI built-in, with R and Python analytics plus native scoring in T-SQL</strong> &#8211; SQL Server was the first commercial database to have AI built-in. SQL Server 2017 enables you to build intelligent apps using scalable, parallelized and highly performant analytics using both R and now Python. New native scoring in T-SQL lets you score in near real-time.</li>
<li>SQL Server 2017 will enable customers to use<strong> graph data management and analysis</strong> in order to discover new kinds of relationships. You can track and analyze highly interconnected data, for uses like detecting financial fraud or understanding pharmaceutical drug interactions.</li>
<li><strong>Adaptive Query Processing</strong> is a new family of features in SQL Server that bring intelligence to database performance. Adaptive Memory Grants in SQL Server track and learn from how much memory is used by a given query over time to avoid over- or under-provisioning memory and spilling to disk, a situation that can negatively affect performance. The more you run your application, the smarter this feature gets. <strong>Automatic Plan Correction</strong> ensures continuous performance by finding and fixing performance regressions.</li>
<li>The newly renamed <strong>Machine Learning Server for Hadoop</strong>, formerly R Server, brings R and Python based scalable analytics to Hadoop and Spark environments, and it is now available to all SQL Server Enterprise Edition customers as a Software Assurance benefit.</li>
<li>SQL Server Enterprise edition software assurance benefits also enable you to run <strong>Power BI Report Server</strong>. Power BI Report Server enables a truly hybrid reporting and dashboard experience by allowing you to manage your SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports alongside your Power BI reports</li>
</ul>
<h2>Easy lift and shift to the cloud with Azure SQL Database Managed Instance and Azure Hybrid Benefit</h2>
<p>With Microsoft’s cloud-first development principle, you’ll find many of these same advances in our database-as-a-service: Azure SQL Database brings your workloads industry-leading performance and security, all on the same core engine as SQL Server.</p>
<p>With intelligent features like Threat Detection and auto-tuning built-in, Azure SQL Database offers the most productive database service, ideal for managing and modernizing data estate with thousands of databases — delivering a 406% ROI¹ to organizations. Today, we are announcing the upcoming public <a target="_blank" href="https://sqldatabase-migrationpreview.azurewebsites.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer">preview for SQL Database Managed Instance</a>, an expansion to the service which offers close to full compatibility with SQL Server — ideal for migrating database estate to Azure for hassle-free operations. We are also announcing an upcoming public preview for <strong>Azure Database Migration Service</strong> which will streamline the movement of databases to Azure including SQL Server to Azure SQL Database. But we aren’t stopping there. We will make Azure the most economical and logical choice for existing SQL Server customers with the addition of <strong>Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server</strong>, a way to re-use on-premises SQL Server licenses to run database-as-a-service in Azure. Azure Hybrid Benefit offers customers big savings compared to moving to other public clouds.</p>
<p><strong>“We wanted the best of what we do in our data center, which is reliable SQL Servers on flash storage. With the best of what Azure could bring to it…For us we found Azure SQL Database was the best way to do it. We deploy our SQL Server’s schema element into a Managed Instance and we point the application via connection string change directly over the managed instance. We basically picked up our existing infrastructure and were able to deploy to Azure within a few seconds. It allows us to scale the business very quickly, with very minimal effort. The holy grail in a move like this is being able to lift your existing platform, move it into Azure without significant amounts of work, without having to re-engineer things,”</strong> said Eric Fleischman, Vice President &amp; Chief Architect of DocuSign.</p>
<p>In addition to making it easier than ever to move to Azure SQL Database, we’re building in new capabilities that make it more compelling than ever to move. SQL Database has new <strong>Machine Learning Services</strong> for R language advanced analytics, a service that provides a platform for building and deploying intelligent applications in the cloud. And we’re adding other capabilities that leverage SQL Database’s cloud architecture: <strong>Intelligent Insights</strong> provide automated monitoring at scale and detection of any database performance degradations, faster than possible with traditional means. Not only that the issue is detected, but a root cause analysis is provided to the user, to easily decide on the best way to mitigate problems. With the new <strong>Vulnerability Assessment</strong>, customers can proactively improve the security state of their database. They get visibility into their security settings and vulnerabilities, and concrete steps to resolve issues and lock down security settings – an important issue if you’re subject to EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulations.</p>
<h2>Data Analytics at scale in the cloud with Azure Data Factory and Azure SQL Data Warehouse</h2>
<p>We are helping customers transform with analytics and AI through faster performance, reduced time to value, and intelligence that can redefine customer interactions. With cloud-first innovation, you get a superset of business intelligence and analytics features that work across your entire Data Estate – on-premises and in the cloud.</p>
<p><strong>Azure Data Factory</strong> is a data integration service that now lets you create, schedule, and orchestrate data integration pipelines at scale wherever your data lives, in the cloud or on premises. You can meet security and compliance needs for your data while taking advantage of Azure Data Factory’s extensive orchestration and data movement capabilities while paying only for what you use.</p>
<p>Now in public preview, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) customers can easily lift SSIS packages into the cloud using new managed SSIS hosting capabilities in Data Factory. Coming soon, customers who have active SQL Server license on SQL Server will be able to take advantage of the Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server to receive discounted rates on SSIS execution in Data Factory.</p>
<p>Customers are already using these new features to speed data integration. Said David B. McAuley, CTO for Lumedx, <strong>“Azure Data Factory has simplified the integration of data from multiple hybrid sources at scale and enabled us to leverage big data and analytics offerings in Azure to drive better health outcomes for our customers.”</strong></p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/sql-data-warehouse/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Azure SQL Data Warehouse</a> is a fully-managed, petabyte-scale cloud data warehouse based on SQL Server. Soon we’ll preview a new performance tier that offers 2x the performance and 5x the scale of the current performance tier. This new compute-optimized performance tier leverages the latest Azure hardware with data caching through low-latency Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe)-based solid-state disks for the most demanding data warehouse workloads. You are also able to store an unlimited amount of columnar data with each data warehouse. These benefits of increased performance and scale are offered while retaining the ability to pause, resume and dynamically scale your data warehouse to achieve the lowest possible cost.</p>
<p>Finally, you’re probably familiar with how Power BI has been revolutionizing self-service business intelligence, revealing the information stored within your analytics using powerful visualizations. Power BI works across locations and devices to put BI in the hands of all your users. With <strong>Power BI Report Server</strong>, announced this past May, you can now run Power BI reports on-premises! This unlocks the deployment and distribution of interactive Power BI reports – and traditional paginated reports – completely within the boundaries of the organization’s firewall. Power BI Report Server extends the hybrid BI experience by allowing you to build on your on-premises reporting infrastructure while maintaining compatibility with Power BI to ensure a natural transition when you are ready to move to the cloud. And because Power BI Report Server is built on the proven SQL Server Reporting Services technology, it is <strong>fully compatible with SSRS</strong>. So, you can take advantage of SSRS capabilities when you deploy Power BI Report Server. Power BI Report Server is included with the purchase of <strong>Power BI Premium</strong> and available as a<strong> Software Assurance benefit for SQL Server Enterprise customers</strong>.</p>
<p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/09/azure-cosmos-db.png"><img src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/09/azure-cosmos-db-1024x714.png" alt="" width="722" height="504" class="aligncenter wp-image-20765" /></a></p>
<h2>Build serverless apps with near infinite global-scale with new support for Azure Functions in Azure Cosmos DB</h2>
<p>Finally, only Microsoft offers a complete development, application, and data platform that enables developers to build the next-generation of applications that will enrich the world around us. At Ignite, we continue this journey with new <strong>support for Azure Functions in Azure Cosmos DB</strong> which will dramatically streamline a developer’s ability to build globally distributed apps in a serverless architecture. These capabilities enable developers to build rich, real-time customer experiences based on data and events, with minimal infrastructure overhead. Azure Cosmos DB offers turnkey global distribution across Azure regions and guarantees performance, with single-digit-millisecond latencies at the 99th percentile anywhere in the world. Its multiple consistency models help fine-tune performance for your application, and guaranteed high availability is backed by industry-leading, comprehensive service level agreements (SLAs). And now, you can <a target="_blank" href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/try/cosmosdb/" rel="noopener noreferrer">try it for free</a>!</p>
<h2>Join us</h2>
<p>Ready to hear more? Please join me at this afternoon’s Data General Session and for the other exciting sessions in the Ignite Data track. We’ll have lots of advice and ideas help you unleash the power of your data.</p>
<ul>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://ignite.microsoft.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch Microsoft Ignite keynotes online at the Live Stream</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions" rel="noopener noreferrer">Search Microsoft Ignite Data sessions</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/data-platform/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Learn more about data in Microsoft Azure</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver2017" rel="noopener noreferrer">Get started with SQL Server 2017 on Windows, Linux and Docker</a></li>
</ul>
<p><em>¹ &#8220;<a target="_blank" href="http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/1/D/A1D5C24B-284A-4F9C-B121-E6E5FDAB1B94/IDC-Azure-SQL-DB-Value-2015.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Business Value of Microsoft Azure SQL Database Services</a>&#8221; IDC, March 2015.</em></p>
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<title>SQL Server PolyBase supports Hadoop.rpc.protection</title>
<link>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/21/sql-server-polybase-supports-hadoop-rpc-protection/</link>
<comments>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/21/sql-server-polybase-supports-hadoop-rpc-protection/#respond</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Sep 2017 16:00:41 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[SQL Server Team]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/?p=20636</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This post was authored by Casey Karst; Program Manager II; Data Systems. We are pleased to announce that PolyBase in SQL Server 2016 and later can connect to Hadoop clusters with the hadoop.rpc.protection configuration set to Integrity, Privacy or Authentication. By default, PolyBase uses the Authentication setting, but to connect to more secure Hadoop clusters... <a aria-label="read more about SQL Server PolyBase supports Hadoop.rpc.protection" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/09/21/sql-server-polybase-supports-hadoop-rpc-protection/" class="read-more">Read more</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This post was authored by Casey Karst; Program Manager II; Data Systems.</em></p>
<p>We are pleased to announce that PolyBase in SQL Server 2016 and later can connect to Hadoop clusters with the hadoop.rpc.protection configuration set to Integrity, Privacy or Authentication. By default, PolyBase uses the Authentication setting, but to connect to more secure Hadoop clusters Integrity or Privacy are needed.</p>
<p>Supporting this configuration allows PolyBase to connect and query Hadoop clusters that have wire encryption turned on. This enables a secure connection between Hadoop and SQL Server; as well as, among the Hadoop Data Nodes.</p>
<p>To connect to a Hadoop cluster with the hadoop.rpc.protection set to privacy or integrity, you will need to alter the core-site.xml file that is installed with PolyBase. This file is generally found at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Binn\Polybase\Hadoop\conf.</p>
<p>In order to use the new configuration, you will need to add a new property with the name hadoop.rpc.protection and a value of either privacy or integrity. These values must match the hadoop.rpc.protection configuration on your Hadoop cluster.</p>
<pre>&lt;!-- RPC Encryption information, PLEASE FILL VALUE IN ACCORDING TO HADOOP CLUSTER CONFIG --&gt;
&lt;property&gt;
&lt;name&gt;hadoop.rpc.protection&lt;/name&gt;
&lt;value&gt;privacy&lt;/value&gt;
&lt;/property&gt;</pre>
<p><strong>Note</strong>: When changing XML files, please ensure that you input the correct values and maintain the validity of the XML file format. If the changes are invalid, PolyBase will not run.</p>
<p>This functionality is available in all SQL Server installations that currently have PolyBase installed. No update is required. This functionality is not available in Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure SQL Database, or Analytics Platform System.</p>
<p>For more information, please visit documentation on <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/polybase/polybase-configuration">PolyBase Configuration</a>.</p>
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<title>Six reasons to consider SQL Server 2017—especially if you’re on Linux</title>
<link>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/08/31/six-reasons-to-consider-sql-server-2017-especially-if-youre-on-linux/</link>
<comments>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/08/31/six-reasons-to-consider-sql-server-2017-especially-if-youre-on-linux/#comments</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 31 Aug 2017 16:00:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[SQL Server Team]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/?p=20625</guid>
<description><![CDATA[“Data is currency” is the rule of thumb in business. As with money, business data must be accessible, accurate, and usable across disparate contexts if an organization is to realize greater ROI while keeping costs under control. CIOs understand that the need to manage data—its location, composition, and utility—is as important as managing a balance... <a aria-label="read more about Six reasons to consider SQL Server 2017—especially if you’re on Linux" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/08/31/six-reasons-to-consider-sql-server-2017-especially-if-youre-on-linux/" class="read-more">Read more</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>“Data is currency” is the rule of thumb in business. As with money, business data must be accessible, accurate, and usable across disparate contexts if an organization is to realize greater ROI while keeping costs under control. CIOs understand that the need to manage data—its location, composition, and utility—is as important as managing a balance sheet. For many companies, the solution is SQL Server, the industry gold standard for database management.</p>
<p>But what about the many tech startups and cloud enterprises running open-source platforms? These organizations face challenges with reliably integrating, categorizing, and accessing all types of business data in an often-heterogeneous world of platforms, apps, and devices.</p>
<p>The good news is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2017" rel="noopener noreferrer">SQL Server 2017 runs on Linux</a>. Two Linux-based organizations, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cco.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Convergent Computing</a> and<a target="_blank" href="https://www.dv01.co/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> dv01</a>, migrated to SQL Server 2017 for the capabilities and tools to manage and optimize their data “currency.” They share their stories in the new e-book, <em><a target="_blank" href="https://info.microsoft.com/top-six-reasons-companies-make-the-move-to-sql-server-2017-register.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">SQL Server 2017 on Linux: Top Six Reasons Companies Make the Move</a></em>.</p>
<p>In the e-book, leadership at Convergent and dv01 cover the benefits they gained with SQL on Linux, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Flexibility. Use familiar languages on the platform and cloud of your choice.</li>
<li>Performance. Take advantage of faster queries with simultaneous analytics and transaction processing.</li>
<li>Security. Protect your data at rest and in motion with centrally managed, Always Encrypted protection.</li>
<li>Cost. Expand your hardware options and achieve ROI more quickly with Linux.</li>
<li>Simplicity. Migrate without the complexity of advanced customizations or third-party solutions.</li>
<li>Everything built in. Reduce TCO with all the enterprise-level features you need.</li>
</ul>
<p><a target="_blank" href="https://info.microsoft.com/top-six-reasons-companies-make-the-move-to-sql-server-2017-register.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Download the free e-book</a> to see how SQL Server 2017 can help your organization protect and optimize its data.</p>
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<title>Now available in India: Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL</title>
<link>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/08/21/now-available-in-india-azure-database-for-mysql-and-azure-database-for-postgresql/</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Aug 2017 18:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[SQL Server Team]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/?p=20595</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We recently announced public preview availability of Azure Database for PostgreSQL and MySQL in West and Central India. PostgreSQL and MySQL are ubiquitous names in the world of open source relational databases, as these database engines have been widely embraced by developers in recent years. Microsoft’s Azure cloud is a first-class platform for open source... <a aria-label="read more about Now available in India: Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/08/21/now-available-in-india-azure-database-for-mysql-and-azure-database-for-postgresql/" class="read-more">Read more</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We recently announced public preview availability of Azure Database for PostgreSQL and MySQL in West and Central India. PostgreSQL and MySQL are ubiquitous names in the world of open source relational databases, as these database engines have been widely embraced by developers in recent years. Microsoft’s Azure cloud is a first-class platform for open source technology that allows you to bring the tools you love, along with the skills you already have, and deploy any application. The availability of Azure Database for MySQL and PostgreSQL services in India provides app developers the ability to choose from a wider number of geographies and deploy their favorite database on Azure &#8212; without the complexity of managing and administering the databases.</p>
<p>Learn more about the new availability of Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL in our <a target="_blank" href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-azure-database-for-mysql-and-azure-database-for-postgresql-availability-in-india-2" rel="noopener noreferrer">recent post on the Azure blog</a>.</p>
<p>You can create an Azure Database for MySQL by following the steps mentioned in <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/mysql/quickstart-create-mysql-server-database-using-azure-portal?WT.mc_id=msftossdbind" rel="noopener noreferrer">MySQL documentation</a>, and you can create an Azure Database for PostgreSQL by following the steps outlined in <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/postgresql/quickstart-create-server-database-portal?WT.mc_id=msftossdbind" rel="noopener noreferrer">PostgreSQL documentation</a>. As you can see from the screenshots below, the &#8220;Location&#8221; drop-down now allows you to select India as a region!</p>
<p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/08/mysql-postgresql-availability-india.png"><img src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/08/mysql-postgresql-availability-india.png" alt="" width="857" height="677" class="aligncenter wp-image-20596 size-full" /></a></p>
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<title>SQL Server 2017 Release Candidate 2 (RC2) is now available</title>
<link>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/08/02/sql-server-2017-release-candidate-2-rc2-is-now-available/</link>
<comments>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/08/02/sql-server-2017-release-candidate-2-rc2-is-now-available/#comments</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Aug 2017 17:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[SQL Server Team]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/?p=20555</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft is pleased to announce availability of SQL Server 2017 Release Candidate 2 (RC2), which is now available for download. The release candidate represents an important milestone for SQL Server. Development of the new version of SQL Server along most dimensions needed to bring the industry-leading performance and security of SQL Server to Windows, Linux,... <a aria-label="read more about SQL Server 2017 Release Candidate 2 (RC2) is now available" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/08/02/sql-server-2017-release-candidate-2-rc2-is-now-available/" class="read-more">Read more</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Microsoft is pleased to announce availability of SQL Server 2017 Release Candidate 2 (RC2), which is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver2017" rel="noopener noreferrer">now available for download</a>.</p>
<p>The release candidate represents an important milestone for SQL Server. Development of the new version of SQL Server along most dimensions needed to bring the industry-leading performance and security of SQL Server to Windows, Linux, and Docker containers is complete. We are continuing to work on performance and stress testing of SQL Server 2017 to get it ready for your most demanding Tier 1 workloads, as well as some final bug fixes.</p>
<p>We invite you to test out RC2 today, and to let us know how it’s working for you. If you have questions, you can join the discussion of SQL Server 2017 at <a target="_blank" href="https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/home" rel="noopener noreferrer">MSDN</a>. If you run into an issue or would like to make a suggestion, you can let us know through <a target="_blank" href="https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer" rel="noopener noreferrer">Connect</a>. We look forward to hearing from you!</p>
<h2>Get started with SQL Server 2017 RC2 today!</h2>
<p>Try the release candidate of the SQL Server 2017 today! Get started with our <a target="_blank" href="http://www.microsoft.com/sql-server/developer-get-started" rel="noopener noreferrer">updated developer tutorials</a> that show you how to install and use SQL Server 2017 on macOS, Docker, Windows, and Linux and quickly build an app in a programming language of your choice. For more ways to get started, try the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Watch our recent <a target="_blank" href="https://info.microsoft.com/sql-server-on-linux-town-hall-security-register.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Security</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Finfo.microsoft.com%2Fsql-server-on-linux-town-hall-monitoring.html&amp;data=02%7C01%7Cdelyons%40microsoft.com%7Cb5c7284f464d4b74452808d490dfa483%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C636292737754593275&amp;sdata=YPGbSnkVidyLV5Yrc5WosFeXZcHGFJbsvjkELqMMXbw%3D&amp;reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer">Monitoring</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Finfo.microsoft.com%2Fsql-server-on-linux-town-hall-client-tools.html&amp;data=02%7C01%7Cdelyons%40microsoft.com%7Cb5c7284f464d4b74452808d490dfa483%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C636292737754593275&amp;sdata=Fwz0FQ%2FgqT9WgqlYKN2tD7BMmD9xH28NTxMmpR1a0Ak%3D&amp;reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer">Client Tools</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://info.microsoft.com/sql-server-on-linux-town-hall-sql-server-agent-register.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">SQL Server Agent</a> or <a target="_blank" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Finfo.microsoft.com%2Fsql-server-on-linux-town-hall-backup.html&amp;data=02%7C01%7Cdelyons%40microsoft.com%7Cb5c7284f464d4b74452808d490dfa483%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C636292737754593275&amp;sdata=9A9Ls1iXdUh546IXxMtomQ8lFw579KiHZ4tV5huSR70%3D&amp;reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer">Backup</a> engineering town halls on-demand</li>
<li>Learn more about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/developer-get-started/sql-devops/" rel="noopener noreferrer">DevOps using SQL Server</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-setup-red-hat" rel="noopener noreferrer">Install on Red Hat Enterprise Linux</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-setup-ubuntu" rel="noopener noreferrer">Install on Ubuntu Linux</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-setup-suse-linux-enterprise-server" rel="noopener noreferrer">Install on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pull and run a Linux Docker container on Linux, Windows, or macOS</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/evalcenter/evaluate-sql-server-vnext-ctp" rel="noopener noreferrer">Download the preview for Windows</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/?term=%22SQL+Server+vNext%22" rel="noopener noreferrer">Create a SQL Server on Linux virtual machine in Azure</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-active-directory-authentication" rel="noopener noreferrer">Active Directory Authentication with SQL Server on Linux</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://aka.ms/eapsignup" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign up for the Early Adoption Program (EAP)</a> &#8211; The Early Adoption Program is designed to help customers and partners evaluate new features in SQL Server 2017, and to build and deploy applications for SQL Server 2017 on Windows and Linux.</li>
</ul>
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<title>Microsoft Drivers v4.3.0 for PHP for SQL Server released!</title>
<link>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/07/18/microsoft-drivers-v4-3-0-for-php-for-sql-server-released/</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jul 2017 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[SQL Server Team]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/?p=20545</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This post was authored by Meet Bhagdev, Program Manager, Microsoft Hi all, We are excited to announce the Production Ready release for the Microsoft Drivers v4.3.0 for PHP for SQL Server. The drivers now support Debian Jessie and macOS. The driver enables access to SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, and Azure SQL DW from any... <a aria-label="read more about Microsoft Drivers v4.3.0 for PHP for SQL Server released!" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/07/18/microsoft-drivers-v4-3-0-for-php-for-sql-server-released/" class="read-more">Read more</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This post was authored by Meet Bhagdev, Program Manager, Microsoft</em></p>
<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>We are excited to announce the Production Ready release for the <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=55642">Microsoft Drivers v4.3.0 for PHP for SQL Server</a>. The drivers now support Debian Jessie and macOS. The driver enables access to SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, and Azure SQL DW from any PHP application on Linux, Windows, and macOS.</p>
<p>Notable items for the release:</p>
<h2>Added</h2>
<ul>
<li>PHP 7.1 support</li>
<li>Added Unicode Column name support (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/138">issue #138</a>)</li>
<li>Support for <a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/wiki/Features#TNIR">transparent connections to AlwaysOn Availability Groups</a>. The driver quickly discovers the current AlwaysOn topology of your server infrastructure and connects to the current active server transparently.</li>
<li>Added support for sql_variant data type with limitation (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/51">issue #51</a> and <a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/127">issue #127</a>)</li>
<li><b>Debian Jessie</b> (tested on Debian 8.7) and <b>macOS</b> (El Capitan and above) support</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/wiki/Connection-Resiliency">Connection Resiliency</a> support for Windows</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/wiki/Connection-Pooling-on-Linux-and-Mac">Connection pooling</a> support for Linux and macOS</li>
</ul>
<h2>Fixed</h2>
<ul>
<li>Fixed the assertion error (Linux) when fetching data from a binary column using the binary encoding (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/226">issue #226</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed PECL installation errors when PHP was installed from source (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/213">issue #213</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed issue output parameters bound to empty string (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/182">issue #182</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed a memory leak in closing connection resources</li>
<li>Fixed load ordering issue in MacOS (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/417">issue #417</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed the issue with driver loading order in macOS</li>
<li>Fixed null returned when an empty string is set to an output parameter (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/308">issue #308</a>)</li>
<li><b>SQLSRV only</b>
<ul>
<li>Fixed sqlsrv client buffer size to only allow positive integers (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/228">issue #228</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed sqlsrv_num_rows() when the client buffered result is null (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/330">issue #330</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed issues with sqlsrv_has_rows() to prevent it from moving statement cursor (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/37">issue #37</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed conversion warnings because of some const chars (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/332">issue #332</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed debug abort error when building the driver in debug mode with PHP 7.1</li>
<li>Fixed string truncation when binding varchar(max), nvarchar(max), varbinary(max), and xml types (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/231">issue #231</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed fatal error when fetching empty nvarchar (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/69">issue #69</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed fatal error when calling sqlsrv_fetch() with an out of bound offset for SQLSRV_SCROLL_ABSOLUTE (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/223">issue #223</a>)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><b>PDO_SQLSRV only</b>
<ul>
<li>Fixed issue with SQLSRV_ATTR_FETCHES_NUMERIC_TYPE when column return type is set on statement (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/173">issue #173</a>)</li>
<li>Improved performance by implementing a cache to store column SQL types and display sizes (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/189">issue #189</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed segmentation fault with PDOStatement::getColumnMeta() when the supplied column index is out of range (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/224">issue #224</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed issue with the unsupported attribute PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT in connection (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/65">issue #65</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed the issue with executing DELETE operation on a nonexistent value (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/336">issue #336</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed incorrectly binding of unicode parameter when emulate prepare is on and the encoding is set at the statement level (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/92">issue #92</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed binary column binding when emulate prepare is on (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/140">issue #140</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed wrong value returned when fetching varbinary value on Linux (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/270">issue #270</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed binary data not returned when the column is bound by name (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/35">issue #35</a>)</li>
<li>Fixed exception thrown on closeCursor() when the statement has not been executed (<a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/issues/267">issue #267</a>)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h2>Limitations</h2>
<ul>
<li>No support for input/output parameters when using sql_variant type</li>
</ul>
<h2>Known issue</h2>
<ul>
<li>When pooling is enabled in Linux or macOS
<ul>
<li>unixODBC &lt;= 2.3.4 (Linux and macOS) might not return proper diagnostics information, such as error messages, warnings, and informative messages</li>
<li>Because of this unixODBC bug, fetch large data (such as xml, binary) as streams as a workaround. See the examples <a href="https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/wiki/Connection-Pooling-on-Linux-and-Mac">here</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h2>Survey</h2>
<p>Let us know how we are doing and how you use our driver by taking our pulse survey: <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CZNSBYW">https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CZNSBYW</a>.</p>
<h2>Get started</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/developer-get-started/php/ubuntu"><b>Ubuntu + SQL Server + PHP 7</b></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/developer-get-started/php/rhel"><b>RedHat + SQL Server + PHP 7</b></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/developer-get-started/php/windows"><b>Windows + SQL Server + PHP 7</b></a></li>
<li><a href="https://hub.docker.com/r/lbosqmsft/mssql-php-msphpsql/"><b>Docker</b></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=55642"><b>Download Center</b></a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Getting Drivers for PHP5 and older runtimes</h2>
<p>You can download the Microsoft PHP Drivers for SQL Server for PHP 5.4, 5.5, and 5.6 from the download center: <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20098">https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20098</a>. Version 3.0 supports PHP 5.4, version 3.1 supports PHP 5.4 and PHP 5.5, and version 3.2 supports PHP 5.4, 5.5, and 5.6.</p>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><b>PHP Driver</b></td>
<td><b>Version Supported</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>v3.2</td>
<td>PHP 5.6, 5.5, 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>v3.1</td>
<td>PHP 5.5, 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>v3.1</td>
<td>PHP 5.4</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Meet Bhagdev (<a href="mailto:meetb@microsoft.com">meetb@microsoft.com</a>)</p>
<p><a href="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/07/msftlovesphp.png"><img title="msftlovesphp" style="padding-top: 0px;padding-left: 0px;padding-right: 0px;border: 0px" border="0" alt="msftlovesphp" src="https://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/07/msftlovesphp_thumb.png" width="765" height="431" /></a></p>
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</item>
<item>
<title>SQL Server 2017 containers for DevOps scenarios</title>
<link>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/07/17/sql-server-2017-containers-for-devops-scenarios/</link>
<comments>https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/07/17/sql-server-2017-containers-for-devops-scenarios/#comments</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jul 2017 16:05:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[SQL Server Team]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/?p=20525</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This post was authored by Tony Petrossian, Partner Group Program Manager, Database Systems Group SQL Server 2017 will bring with it support for the Linux OS and containers running on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Our goal is to enable SQL Server to run in modern IT infrastructure in any public or private cloud. With support... <a aria-label="read more about SQL Server 2017 containers for DevOps scenarios" href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/07/17/sql-server-2017-containers-for-devops-scenarios/" class="read-more">Read more</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This post was authored by Tony Petrossian, Partner Group Program Manager, Database Systems Group</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2017">SQL Server 2017</a> will bring with it support for the Linux OS and containers running on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Our goal is to enable SQL Server to run in modern IT infrastructure in <strong>any</strong> <strong>public or private cloud</strong>.</p>
<p>With support for containers, SQL Server can now be used in many popular DevOps scenarios. Developers working with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines can now include SQL Server 2017 containers as a component of their applications for an integrated build, test, and deploy experience.</p>
<p><strong>CI/CD automation with containers </strong>– Using containers greatly simplifies the development, testing, and deployment of applications. This is achieved by the packaging of all dependencies, <strong>including SQL Server</strong>, into a portable, executable environment that reduces variability and increases the speed of every iteration in the CI/CD pipeline. This also enforces a consistent experience for all participants since they can share the same state of an application in their containers. Developers can improve applications in their local environments during the first part of the Continuous Integration process.</p>
<p>The development process starts by taking a container that represents the current state of a production application, including a subset of the sanitized data. Developers can then add their features and fixes to it, while having the ability to verify the functionality of the application at any moment. Then, the container can be sent to a testing/quality assurance environment where it can be tested with a larger, more representative dataset.</p>
<p>Continuous Deployment is a critical part of DevOps pipelines. With a successful CD pipeline, a validated and self-contained version of the application is available. Developers can publish and share fully configured containers with all application dependencies, <strong>including SQL Server</strong>, with their peers. This can significantly improve developers’ ability to collaborate as they can all work on the same exact configurations simultaneously without having to build the complicated environment necessary for developing and testing applications with many components.</p>
<p><strong>Parallel testing made fast and easy</strong> – Developers can automate the large-scale testing of containerized applications that <strong>include SQL Server</strong>. Thousands of tests can execute in parallel using high-density container deployments with managed container services. Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, or other orchestration systems can be used to easily manage a large number of test executions. Long-running test cycles can be optimized by load balancing the executions across multiple pods that spin up on demand and spin down when finished.</p>
<p>The Microsoft SQL Server development team is now taking advantage of these capabilities in building, testing, and publishing the new versions of SQL Server 2017. The team uses Azure Container Services to deploy hundreds of containers managed by a large Kubernetes cluster to execute all daily tests of SQL Server. Hundreds of thousands of tests are executed within hours of the availability of a new build! This methodology has enabled the team to run more tests in less time with fewer resources.</p>
<p><strong>Multi-OS development, test, and production environments</strong> – With the containerization of the app, developers no longer need to be concerned about aligning stages of the development and production pipeline with the same exact distribution and version of Linux. Developers can containerize their application environment, <strong>including SQL Server</strong>, to abstract it from the operating system of the underlying host. Whether part of the pipeline is operated on Ubuntu and other parts in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the ability to containerize the entire application environment eliminates the need to overcome challenges of a cross-platform environment. Developers are also free to choose their preferred development environment without worrying about compatibility issues in later parts of the pipeline. With SQL Server 2017, developers can run SQL Server Linux Docker images on macOS, Windows, and Linux.</p>
<p><strong>Deploying SQL Server into production – </strong>As new versions of the application are tested and verified, builds of the containers are published for use in staging and production. The exact version of the SQL Server that was used throughout the development and testing pipeline is now in the production image, and the team can be confident that the entire stack, <strong>including SQL Server,</strong> has been tested as one unit and is ready for use.</p>
<p><a href="http://aka.ms/sqldevops">Learn more</a> about how to better integrate your SQL Server data/database on the DevOps cycle.</p>
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